Blog is now updated at www.rosemary-ridge.blogspot.com ... Meanwhile, enjoy the posts here!

My current home doesn't have a verandah but I'd like it to! A long porch surrounding the entire house. With a porch swing, potted blueberry plants, and a long strong dog laying at my feet. The sweet smell of lrosemary and freshly-turned soil wafting across my yard. The chickens clucking contentedly as they scratch for goodies in the fertile dirt. Knowing we have a full root cellar, trees in the orchard about to drop their bounty, and soup made all from hand-picked harvests bubbling in the crockpot. Heaven.

How to grow a cherry tree from seed

We've been eating a lot of cherries these days ... right time of year ... fresh firm flesh ... good prices ... lots of bing red cherries and ranier yellow cherries. Hmmm! Our neighbor also has a tart cherry tree (with both red and yellow colors ... very small cherries).

Started saving the seeds from both what we're eating and some from the neighbor's tree. Wondering if we can grow a tree from these seeds. I realize it probably won't grow true, due to hybridization and grafting, but a tree with edible cherries is better than no tree!

Here's some information I found:

Yes, you can definitely grow a tree from a cherry pit. I would suggest thatyou get a small pot of soil and plant the pit about 2 inches deep. Keep it wellwatered but not soggy. It will take quite a while for the seed to germinate; youmay not see anything until next spring. Once it does sprout, you can keep it inthe pot until the roots start to fill it, then either repot in a bigger pot orplant it in the ground.

There are 2 things to be aware of in growing a cherry tree from a pit.One is that it will take years and years before it will be mature enough toflower and set cherries. The other thing is that after waiting all those years,it may or may not have cherries like the one the pit came from. The reason isthat most cherries need a cross-pollinator, which means that the blossoms needto be visited by bees that were already in another variety of cherry blossoms.For example, a deep red Bing cherry may have been cross-pollinated by a yellowRanier cherry, so the fruit that grows from the seed may have somecharacteristics of each of its "parents."

So growing a cherry tree from a seed can be a really interesting experimentif you have 5 or 10 years to wait!

Yes, we have time... not in any hurry. Now here's some more information (slightly edited):

1. Unrefrigerated pits work best. Seeds go through something called stratification each winter when they are naturally exposed to cold temperatures outdoors, before germinating in the spring. Exposing a cherry pit or seed to cold temperatures before eating it and then again before germinating the seed in the spring makes it a little less reliable.

Eat a few cherries. Rinse the pits from your favorite cherries. Put them in a sunny window to dry.

2. In the fall, gather up your cherry seeds and pits that you have collected in your window. Plant them outside in an area that you can keep an eye on regularly. Choose a place that you can weed regularly, and where they are safe from being mowed.

Plant several of them, as some pits may not sprout. They should be planted 2 inches deep and at least a foot apart. Mark the area where you planted the pits so that you know where to expect to see the cherry trees sprouting.

After you have planted the cherry pits and seeds, wait for nature to do it's work. The cherry seeds will go through a natural stratification process in the winter.

3. In the spring, the cherry pits and seeds will start to sprout into a tree. Wait until the trees are 8 to 12 inches tall and then transplant them to the area you would like the trees to grow permanently. After you have transplanted the cherry tree, mulchwell around it to prevent weeds and encourage moisture in the soil. Also, mark the tree location with a stake to prevent the tree from being walked on or mowed.

And yet another bit of info from a different source:

From New Mexico State University: The cherry, like all temperate fruit trees,requires a "chilling" period or winter to prepare the seed for growth. The hardshell of the pit does not need to be removed, but the seed should be placed inmoist vermiculite or peatmoss and stored in the refrigerator for six to eightweeks before planting. Do not let the seed dry before beginning this treatment.Once the seed has been treated by chilling, it may be planted—outside if theweather is already cool, or in a pot in a window or greenhouse. If plantedoutside, it will experience further chilling and begin growing in the spring. Ifplanted in a pot, it will begin growing in a few weeks. Plant several seedsbecause it is possible that only a few will grow. In about seven to ten yearsyou may begin eating cherries from your tree.

After cleaning all flesh from the seeds (and the stem), placing in baggies with a paper towel. Each kind of seed in a different baggie (bing red, ranier yellow, tart red/yellow). Then I'm gonna use the "sunny window" in our east-and-south bedroom that we use as a greenhouse, keeping the three different kinds separated. Then, since our soil is so bad here, I'm gonna use some of our pots and plant the seeds there. Once they sprout and are tall enough, I'll have dear old Hubby plant where I tell him to, in a huge hole mostly filled with compost.... spaced about 20 feet apart.

Water well, deeply and often. Fruit tree fertilizer spikes every Spring until it starts to bear. Prune early Spring before new growth starts, to remove dead or unhealthy branches, or to un-bushy it, or to keep it small and manageable. The stake will also help keep it growing straight, especially in our very windy area. Will tie the treeling well to the stake.

We had a beautiful sweet yellow-and-red cherry tree at our last house. Unfortunately we didn't realize it was a cherry tree until the birds started attacking it. I managed to grab a few and boy howdy, they were delicious! Did teach us that birds LOVE cherries, and that we need to net the tree while it is still short enough to get to the top. Also will attach metal/tin pie plates and tinsel to it as it grows.

5 comments:

Hmmm... You're tempting me! But i think it's too hot down here in Georgia to get this to work. I think we'd have to grow several to ensure cross-polination.Oh, how I miss fresh cherries. We had a dwarf Bing and Royal Ann in our front yard in Seattle. Nothing like walking out the front door and picking large bowl of cherries.Sigh...

Cherries will grow in Georgia and Alabama, but may not set fruit every year. The problem is that they require a period of cold weather to "reset". Apples are also finicky that way, however I've had some success with yellow delicious with a red delicious for pollen in Montgomery, Alabama.

Thats good information... But I was thinking of making a bonsai out them and keep them indoors. Well if they have to be cross pollinated then I guess my chances of eating cherries from my own plant even after waiting for over five years is very slim.

Thanks for all the great info! I love in Idaho, where there are tons of cherry tree orchards. I am so excited to start an little orchard of this yummy fruit. Now I am going to be glad gor the cold winter...since it preps the pits, seedlings, then trees for growth and fruit! Happy growing!

Blog Archive by Month

Subscribe To

Followers

From me....

West River Academy

Sometimes we need a little help graduating our children, ESPECIALLY if they have special needs.
My son tried regular school, but even in the Special Ed program, he was just given busy work.
So... he is completely enrolled in West River Academy which is a private school, fully accredited (www.westriveracademy.com)
Wonderful people there.

That Nigerian Dwarf Goat Breeder in Conifer Colorado will NEVER be used by us again, and anyone who asks us about her will know about our experience about getting a "milking doe" goat from her that doesn't want to be touched or give up milk and hadn't been taken care of (hooves trimmed). Crowley Manor, run by Patricia de Vreese-Crowley, sometimes noted as Patricia Crowley. Ask if you want details.= = = =It appears a certain Mr. Jim Lance who is experienced in engine maintenance and repair, landscaping, metal fabrication and cost containment, bought a certain piece of property and allegedly stayed only long enough to strip off the landscaping materials and sell them, then allegedly allowed the mortgage to not be paid. Hmmm... there's a company in the Denver area who hired him to do cost containment? Really? He also used the property to bury trash, and as of May 18 2010, won't tell us WHAT he buried. Shame on you, Mr. Lance!

Copyright and Disclaimer:

DISCLAIMER: Some postings, texts, messages and info on this site may deal with devices & activities which could violate various laws (Federal, State, and/or local) if actually carried out or constructed. The participants of this website (webmasters, advertisers and commenters) of this site do not advocate the breaking of any law. Everything on this website/blog is for information only. Please contact your local law enforcement and/or medical professional before attempting following any advice or project obtained from this website/blog. We do not guarantee that any of the information contained on this system is correct, workable, or factual. We are not responsible for, nor do we assume any liability for, damages resulting from the use of any information on this site.